2024 in review
A strong sense of dejà vu
As I look back over my last few year in review posts, a familiar theme emerges: in spite of best intentions to head out and take a lot of photographs, life and other things tend to get in the way. It turns out 2024 hasn’t bucked that trend.
Don’t get me wrong …. I have the privilege of getting out with my camera an awful lot, and am so incredibly fortunate to have the best landscapes in the world on my doorstep. But everything you see here on my website, or on my Instagram or YouTube, is squeezed between a very busy full-time career, time spent with my beautiful family, and the general routine of life. I guess what I’m saying is … there remains a sizable gap between my ambitions for photography and what time actually allows me to do. I acknowledge I’m not alone on this; I’m sure many reading will be in a similar position with their passions and hobbies.
During the first half of 2024, my work on the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery, with the Transport Rebuild East Coast Alliance, was all consuming. Huge hours put in setting up the foundations and mechanics of a massive rebuild of the State highway and rail networks. Then, much to everyone’s surprise, in late May the recently elected Government drastically cut funding for the programme. I mentioned in last year’s review that 6-7 years of construction activity lay ahead, but as I write this, my time on the rebuild is almost done.
In 2025 there are couple of new and exciting project opportunities in the wind, but as it’s a highly competitive market at the moment, I’m not counting my chickens. Either way, the day job should remain pretty busy and I suspect the general trend of photography being confined to the margins will continue.
It’s taken a while for me to get my head around it, but I’ve come to realise that if I’m to make photography more front-and-centre in my life, it’s going to take something bold and intentional. All I can say right now is … watch this space :-).
Righto, on to the photography related happenings of 2024…
The new year was greeted in rather low-key style: I woke up in the back of my vehicle in a remote carpark in Kahurangi National Park. Honestly though, what an amazing way to spend my first day of 2024, setting off on a 3-day solo adventure to summit Mt Owen. Some photos below with a few more located in my A Brief Guide to Mt Owen.
What a place to spend my first night of 2024!
My second night location wasn’t too bad either
Waking up to sunrise on Mt Owen
Video highlights from Mt Owen (18 mins 59 secs)
After making the 6-hour drive back to Christchurch, and a day’s rest, I set off just after 5am to make an 8-hour drive to Manapouri. At 3pm, I was off on a 4-day solo adventure to explore Mt Titiroa. If I’d thought Mt Owen’s landscapes were surreal and incredible, my mind was about to be absolutely blown by Titiroa. Photos below; for more, see my A Brief Guide to Mt Titiroa.
View from the top of Mt Titiroa (Lake Manapouri under the low cloud/fog)
Campsite on night 3 of the Titiroa adventure
The long shadow of Titiroa
Crazy rock arrangements in the granite rock garden of Titiroa
Video highlights from Mt Titiroa (25 mins 21 secs)
It was back to work in mid-January and then photography and adventures fell by the wayside for the best part of 5 months. During that time I managed to edit together a video guide to photography in Milford Sound. The biggest photography highlight was in May, when a spectacular aurora show hit the planet – by some margin the best display I’ve seen in New Zealand.
A Brief Photography Guide to Milford Sound / Piopiotahi (7 mins 34 secs)
The amazing aurora of May 2024, captured just down the road from home
In early June, and after nearly 2 years of planning and logistics, I had the honour and privilege of co-leading PhotoPill’s first ever expedition to New Zealand. Over 13 days we were treated to some of the best and most settled winter conditions we could’ve dreamed of. I haven’t yet worked through many photographs from this trip, but as the year wrapped up, I finally found some time to edit together the video highlights.
Video highlights from the PhotoPills expedition in June (26 mins 13 secs)
Another few months quickly rolled by with barely a click of my camera. It was late October when I headed out on a 4-day adventure with my good buddy Josh Cripps to walk the Greenstone-Caples circuit. The day after, I was helping Josh lead an 11-day photography tour of the South Island, running essentially the same itinerary as 2023 (video highlights here). Conditions were spectacular and our group was stoked with their experience. I’ve yet to process any photos or videos from this most excellent couple of weeks with Josh – a task for 2025 (will come back and update this page when I do).
The last few weeks of 2024 were busy back at the day job, but soon enough, the Christmas break arrived. I’m relieved and thankful to be having a good period of time off to rest, eat and drink (probably way too much if I’m being honest), and catch up on a few things. As I finish writing this review, I’m halfway through the holidays and have completed the editing of the PhotoPills video (above), spent 3 days on a spectacular solo mission in Arthur’s Pass National Park (again, photos and video to come down the track), and spent quality time with family.
I’m also using the time off to continue working on exciting plans for this year (and years) ahead. Some of this I can’t yet tell you about, but fair to say I’ve got some more epic photography adventures and tours ahead.
As always, a huge thanks for following along and for your support. Have a happy and prosperous 2025!
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